Jaitley predicts a third of India to be soon insured by LIC

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that after partnering with the Prime Minister’s Jan-Dhan Yojana, a third of the country would soon be insured by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

During his visit to its office here, he noted LIC’s total assets were Rs 17.69 lakh-crore, is almost equal to the government’s annual budget, and urged the organisation to grow with the economy and opportunities.

The Jan-Dhan Yojana has a Rs 30,000 life insurance covergiven to all individuals who open a bank account under this scheme before January 26. The modalities of the premium for this cover are being worked on.

The person should normally be the head or earning member of a family and in the age group of 18 to 59 years. As on Thursday, a total of 108.46 million bank accounts had been opened under this scheme.

Jaitley was accompanied Hasmukh Adhia, secretary, department of financial services. In his presentation LICChairman S K Roy said in spite of 23 private life insurance companies and 14 years of competition, LIC had a market share of 84.4 per cent in the number of policies and 75.3 per cent in first premium income in 2013-14.

Jaitley also appreciated the claims performance of LIC, which is better than that of the private sector.

The claim settlement ratio of LIC had increased to 98.14 per cent in 2013-14 from 97.73 per cent the previous year. The percentage of repudiations was 1.1 per cent, almost the same level as of the previous year.